Polestar 4 review

The same vibes as every other Polestar, but definitely not the same.

For a start, the usual portrait touchscreen in the middle of the dash is now landscape instead, 15.4-inches across and supplemented by a 10.2-inch driver’s display (bigger than the 3’s nine-inch one) and a 14.7-inch head-up display.

Not just that, but the logic of many systems is different from what's in the 3. That's good, because the 3 shares its underlying OS with the Volvo EX30 and EX90 and to be frank, we loathe it. Whereas in the 4 you get a shallower menu system, meaning fewer jabs to get to the feature you want.

In the unlikely event you're a two-Polestar household that could be a problem: for instance the way the (unmarked) cruise control buttons and indicators work is different across the 3 and 4. If a Polestar 4 recently passed you on the M50 in Gloucestershire indicating right and going left, it was us and we're sorry. We'd just swapped out of a Polestar 3 you see. Maybe they'll straighten it out with OTA updates.

The front seats are wonderful, as are the rears; you never notice the fact that it has no rear ’screen, mainly because the standard-fit full-length glass roof stretches back past the rear passenger’s heads. It always feels spacious. Also the rear seats have a partial recline mechanism.

It is quite a big car: you’ll make use of the various parking cameras when stowing it in a tight space.

Is it practical?

This depends on your use case. The boot is big at 526 litres including an underfloor bin, but you can’t really use it for a dog despite what Polestar says. There’s space under the floor and the seats fold, so it’s no less practical than many if you take live animals out of the equation.

It'll tow a braked trailer of 1,500kg, or 2,000kg with the second motor.

Anything else?

In-car modes. Keep Climate holds the air-con at a standard temperature if you have to hang out in the car without driving, for up to eight hours. Animal Mode does the same thing as Keep Climate and also displays a message on the centre screen to point out to concerned bystanders that your dog/cat/pangolin is unlikely to die of heatstroke because the air-con is on. Finally Car Wash mode. Which doesn’t automatically wash your car, in case you were wondering.

Oh, and the interior themes and lighting are based on the planets of our solar system. So you can be sunny yellow of the literal Sun, or just bathe in the gloomy hues of Uranus. Sorry.